Saturday, November 04, 2006

Was Chuck Barris the coolest game show host, EVER? This was one show I never failed to miss. Someone has put together some cool clips from the show (including the unknown comic and Gene Gene the dancing machine). Also included is the act that got this show booted from NBC. Great memories of my mom and I sitting in the living room and laughing our asses off. I have never seen a guy have a better time hosting a show than Chuck Barris. What a hoot!

Friday, November 03, 2006

I took my car into the shop to get the oil changed and a lightbulb fixed earlier today. I also went today because I found out two days ago that my mechanic, who has never over charged me and has always dropped whatever he was doing to rescue me, lost his wife due to breast cancer last week. Greg is a big burly guy who can hit a softball out of just about any park I have ever seen. A great guy to have on your side. When I got there, he had Al (another great mechanic) work on my car and invited me back to the office. I think he just wanted to talk to someone. He had basically kept it a secret from everyone other than a few close friends. He told me about his three kids, two boys 19 and 15 and his 12 year old daughter. About how they had prepared for this day for a long time. About how even though they had prepared for this, they really hadn't. They had just returned from their annual trip to Florida and when they got back to St. Louis, "she got really tired and just gave up". My heart broke for him, his family and especially the 12 year old girl. No matter what I have been through this summer, whatever indignities I have suffered NOTHING and I mean nothing compares to what my friend Greg is going through. He told me that as he was going through their pictures to display at the visitation, he was amazed at how young they were. "Where has the time gone?" he said. I relayed a conversation I had with my mom when she was alive and beautiful and I was eighteen and full of piss and vinegar. She told me "you will not believe how fast it goes, in the blink of eye, your life moves around you." Greg agreed. I know now what she was trying to say. This is the second time this year a good friend of mine has lost a wife to cancer. Enjoy the simple pleasures and the people around you. Hug your family. Tell them you love them.

The Beatles LOVE with Cirque De Soliel is now playing in Las Vegas.I happened onto a 4 song sample from the show yesterday and "OH, MY GOD!" This is the most incredible set of music I have heard since the original recordings came out. The songs have been completely redone by Sir George Martin's boy Giles. "Strawberry Fields Forever" takes on a completely different tone, "Octopus' Garden" now has strings and so does the acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." "Lady Madonna" is a completely different song interplaying "All Together Now" in the middle. Infriggincredible. This has the blessing of Paul, Ringo, Olivia and Yoko. The entire show will be available on DVD Audio with 5.1 surround sound. I cannot wait for this. Fresh Beatles, what better Christmas present could a guy ask for?

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

One of the things I like to do is voice track a shift on our smooth jazz station at www.smoothvox.com. One of the duties I have for that job is to review new music. I have come across some gems while doing so. I have found another. The CD is called "tribaljazz" and that it is. This is a collection of jazz musicians that John Densmore (the former drummer for the Doors) has assembled. This is what I like to call "acid jazz". Don't ask me why but this sounds like it was made back in the 60s, and that's a real good thing. It's just a very ecclectic group of musicians and songs that sound great. John is the drummer and you will find flutes, saxes and things like a coxixi. There are five vocal tracks, one laid down by Alfre Woodard on an awesome composition called "The First Time I Heard Coltrane". On "Vegetable Wizard", the vocals are in French and "Orange Midnight" is sung in Senegalese. See? Weird, trippy shit. One of the other vocals is Jim Morrison's whisper vocal on "Riders On The Storm" with a new arrangement and a completely different sound. "Violet Love" is a rap number about all of the killing that religion has wrought. Art Ellis is the cat on the flutes, saxes and pianos. This is a killer of a recording that just came at me out of left field. This sounds nothing like what John did with The Doors and it is "acid jazz".Coltrane would be proud to have his name associated with this. It sounds very much like what he would sound like today (I think). Three and a half stars from judge Raley.

I have been buying hard to find CDs from my friend Tom Young at "Now Hear This" in Kirkwood for about 20 years now. In those two decades, he has found just about everything for me. I have him to thank for filling in the holes of my CD collection. One big hole was The Marc Tanner Band. The Marc Tanner Band was Marc Tanner on vocals and it featured a bunch of studio musicians like The Porcaro brothers from Toto, Richie Zito, David Paich, Steve Lukather, Bob Glaub along with others. I picked up "No Escape" yesterday after having him order it for me. Ahhhh! I haven't heard this in years. The only copy I had of this recording was on vinyl, although I did find "Elena" on Napster a few years ago, but the quality was not good. From the opening number "Never Again" to "She's So High" to "Elena", these are very catchy tunes, well done pop music. It sounds like Toto meets Hall and Oates. So, I am still finding things to plug into holes in my collection. This is on "Wounded Bird" Records a division of Rhino. Good old Rhino, they have done more for us collectors than anyone I know. If anyone knows of a studio version of "The Pit and The Pendulum" by Ross, let me know. Marc Tanner gets four stars out of five from judge Raley